Bumper Aston Villa Transfer Gossip!

Plenty of transfer talk today, sadly much of it about players being linked with exits which in my ever so humble opinion (WHAT?) would be total madness at this time of year and with the size of our squad taken into consideration. It would be especially strange after Martin O'Neill said he didn't want to let any players go due to the fact we don't have enough numbers in the squad.

Remember this is all just gossip until it happens, don't shoot the messenger!

One report suggests that Juventus want to sign Olof Mellberg now and not in the summer. The Swedish international can leave on a free in the summer and can (or have if you believe some reports) talk to interested clubs to sign a pre-contract now. The up side of Villa letting him go now is they could command a fee, the downside is he has been filling in for the right-back position and we then only have Craig Gardner as cover unless we buy a right-back, as MON suggested he would do following Villa's failure to get one in the summer. One report says Juventus have told Villa to name their price, another says that Claudio Ranieri hasn't much money to spend but has been given the green light to spend £2m on Ollie.

The Express & Star say that Blues have been given the go ahead to talk to Villa defender Gary Cahill. There are several reports and the price they seem to agree on is around £4million with some suggesting there would be a further £1million worth of add ons. Alex McLeish told the Express & Star: 'We have had a chat with Martin at Villa. It's in their hands, there is a chance, but it's no more than that at the moment. We have been happy to do a cash deal, I'm not sure what the player's thoughts on it are.' It would be total madness selling him and the single most disappointing thing MON will have done since his arrival as Cahill is young, learning and a potential rock at that back. Loan him fine, but why sell him, do we really need the money?

Martin O'Neill says Wilfred Bouma is going nowhere after being linked with a return to PSV Eindhoven. Press in Holland say PSV are looking at Bouma and Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers) but MON told the Birmingham Mail, 'We have an option for another year and I will speak to Wilfred about that. There are no worries with that one,' The option has to be taken up before the end of April. I can't for the life of me understand why these guys haven't had their futures sorted and contracts extended if they are still in the managers plans?

The Sun claim that Spurs striker Jermain Defoe will turn down advances from Aston Villa and Portsmouth in order to join Newcastle United. This I doubt, he is a London lad who, by the soudns of things, would rather stay in London, if he has to move then Villa is idea as it is only an short (ish) journey away.

The Mirror meanwhile would have you believe that Villa are about to seal the deal for Defoe in a £10million move after the player held talks with Martin O'Neill. The paper follow up claims in the Birmingham Post yesterday that Defoe has been to Villa's training ground Bodymoor Heath and go further claiming he has been promised a regular starting place in the team as MON is adamant (used to like Adam and the Ants. 'That musics lost its taste why don't you try another flavour, ant music oh oh oh oh...I'll get my coat) that he won't let youngster Gabby Agbonlahor burn out. The deal, according to the paper, is four-and-half years for £47,000 a week. It would do I suppose.

The Sun claim that Aston Villa are after £6 million-rated fullback Nedum Onuoha from Manchester City.

The Daily Telegraph meanwhile has Spurs fullback Pascal Chimbonda linked to us again. They also say we are eyeing up Steaua Bucharest's defender Dorin Goian.

Villa's young Swedish striker Tobias Mikaelsson has joined Port Vale Football Club on loan and joins up with Villa's Australian midfielder Chris Herd.

And that is your lot for now. What do you reckon, any gems there?

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Your Comments (oldest first)

Whatever deals are done, I hope they are done reasonably quickly. I hate last minute signings AND we are in a position to push for Europe so having a bigger, better quality squad NOW is the key. And no. Cahill should not go.

Not concerned about Cahill if we have another defender come in he will be 5th in the pecking order with little prospect of moving up in the next couple of years. No big club wants to buy him only championship clubs or those heading for the championship. It would be nice to see some people come in though we keep on being linked with players but then nothing seems to happen. I am sure it will though and i still think we are in good shape for a push for europe.

I think its stupid that we're selling Cahill. I've never seen Curtis play as well as I've seen Gary play so why sell Gary for half the price we're paying for Davies? Surely there has to be something other than height thats pushing Cahill out. MON is infuriating sometimes, every time I've seen Cahil play he's looked sharp, always gets a block in if there's a shot and he looks comfortable on the ball. For me I don't see the 5 mil diffrence in the 2 players.

I don't think we need him but it seems MON wants Gabby on the wing as his first choice RM. If that is the case he wants the big man little man thing going on in the middle up front. He also seems to want English players that are fast and Defoe is definitly little, quick and English. Seems to make sense. I like him alot, I think he'll be good for us

Davies is twice the player Cahill will ever be. Every game (apart from Leicester) this season Davies has looked pure class. Cahill is a good player, but its not MON's choice, he always said if a player want to leave he can go. Yes Cahill is a good prospect, but i am unsure he is European/CL/Next level material TBH.

Davies has looked shakey at times. There is no way he is worth 5m more than Cahill and we're being taken for mugs if we pay 9-10m for Davies and sell Cahil for 4-5m. I think your wrong about Cahill. In a year or 2 he will be good enough for European football and to be our first choice CB.

If he is going to sell a CB then sell Knight. He will never get any better than he is now while Cahill is still improving. Davies and Cahill could be Englands CB's in five years time but Knight won't get there again. Defoe would be good if we can persuade him.

The trouble with Cahill is that he gets pulled out of position and pushed off the ball by good strikers. At championship level he is ok and will always do well but just like Liam he will never be a top 6 team player. Davis for me is worth a lot more than Cahill and for the next couple of years Knight is better so Cahill is way down the order. He might improve and compete with Knight but I think MON bought Knight as a squad player and Cahill wants more than that and for me he just isn't good enough.

All these adverse comments about Cahill imo are ill-informed. Cahill is a future England player and he knows it. He needs another 1 or 2 years playing at the top level but O'Neil wants players that can play in Europe next year and is obviously not prepared to wait patiently for them to develop. Despite what ewveryone thinks about there being load of money available for squad building, there obviously isn't otherwise why are so many players being continuously farmed out while we still have an extremely small squad?

Why would shipping out inexperienced youth prior to any major purchases being made indicate a lack of transfer money? Would anyone care to make a total on how much MON has spent in the last 18 months? We've not sold anyone who wasn't going to take us to the next level (angel, ridger and davis all justified on current league performances)... and then which youngsters are currently good enough for first team? That statement makes no sense.

I agree with Johnnyuk and have to disagree with villacross if Cahill was such a good prospect why are there no middle to big clubs wanting to buy him. As i say Gary is a good championship player and I doubt he will ever play for England. I think we are on the right course but quality layers are hard to find in Jan.

Don't rate Onouha that much and is just as inexperienced as Cahill. Also think Cahill is better than Knight but MON loves his man mountain centre backs and Cahill isn't that tall (although not short.) If Defoe comes then we are about his sixth choice after anyone in the Champs league and Spuz. And I can't believe that MON will gaurantee him 90 mins a week so why would he want to swap benches and move homes???????

The Parrott squawks! You were very quiet after the Derby defeat. Now you want another good championship quality defender for next season. 19 point gap up to the "middle to big clubs" isn't there? As your'e master once said, "you'll be in Europe next year, if there's a war"!!!!!!!! By the way, I laughed for a week after the goal your lot conceded at Bolton, 5 years waiting for payback, but worth it.

With links to any possible incoming deals very few and far between, we need to seriously curtail any outgoing activity. We're going to need all the bodies we can muster between now and seasons end, particularly if we seriously entertain ideas of a top six finish.

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